|
Going Recumbent!
Have to tell you about my efforts to return back to bicycling. Not that I was lacking for outdoor activities with my hang gliding and sailing, but after my heart attack some months ago,
I felt I needed to figure some way to get back into some endurance type exercise without compromising my back and neck injuries.
 A few months ago, I had an opportunity to ride a recumbent bike
owned by a local rider right here in Mena. I found it an interesting position to ride in, and felt that I could probably do this without compromising my back or neck. Sure... I could have gone out
and bought a recumbent somewhere, but I had in my mind an idea of taking one of my bikes hanging and collecting dust and converting it to a recumbent. The bike I chose to sacrifice was my
Diamond Back DBR V8 Full Suspension MTB. It's X-Frame Design would provide a reasonable seat height if I cradled the recumbent seat in the lowest part of the dropped "Top Tube".
The location of the pedals would move from the normal location to a position about 18 inches in front of the headset and above the front wheel, making sure that my heals would
clear the top of the front tire when turning. I had a spare DBR V8 frame that I cut the bottom bracket and downtube out of this frame and wielded it onto the headset of the bike. Viola! New crank position!
 Next I fashioned a very primitive seat out of plywood to try out
seating positions before investing in a real recumbent seat. The seats can be expensive. With this temporary seat in place I was also able to work out the chain routing. And there is lots of Chain.
3 complete chains to make the distance from the new crank position to the rear wheel. The length of chain on the power section runs strait from the front chainrings to the rear cogset. I
have it running through some plastic tubing to help control the chain from banging on the frame and to protect me from chain abrasion. The return section of chain, has to go through a couple
of turns and rather than purchasing idlers, I simply affixed short sections of the plastic tubing bent into the proper arch to direct the
return chain. One at the headset and one down where the bottom bracket used to be. Works just fine, and probably with only a bit more pedaling resistance.
 I purchased one of the fiberglass seats from www.hostelshoppe.com as well as the Steer Tube Extension, which were my only
hardware expenses besides the chains. After cutting and grinding away a good portion of the original top tube, I fabricated a U-channel aluminum tube structure over the top tube and what used
to be the seat tube. This structure would be for mounting the recumbent seat brackets. After fabricating the mounting hardware for the fiberglass seat and affixing it to the base as well as the
back portion of the seat, it was ready to mount to the bike. Currently the recumbent seat is in a fixed location, with a fixed reclined position. I do have the option down the road to allow for
adjustment for and aft on the frame as well as altering the reclination of the seat.
Except for eventually adding some real idler wheels for the return
chain, and maybe getting it painted, it is a finished product. If it holds up for a season of off-road riding, I may go ahead and put a cheap paint job on it. Right now I like the Road Warrior look that it sports.
So...... How does it ride, one may ask. I will compare it to the original DBR V8 that it was built upon. I have only
put a few hundred off-road miles on the creation now on the Womble, Ouachita, Earhtquake Ridge, and Cedar
Glades so far, but it is enough to have a good idea of what this bike will be able to do. Below I will rank various features based on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest score.
Rank Feature
2 Ease of Mounting and Dismounting
3 Ease of starting pedal stroke
2 Turning in technical areas
2 Pedaling up hill
2 Downhill capability
1 Rough Terrain
1 Hike-a-bike-ability
5 Comfort
Many would look at the numbers above and declare the bike a disaster. Even more so if you tried to ride it off-road
. I double-dog dare ya... But, I declare the bike a total success! On surface streets, it is a very capable bike with no
peculiar characteristics. Of course like all recumbents it does not climb as well, as you are not able to stand on the
pedals, but are totally dependent on leg stroke. It may have an aerodynamic advantage, but I doubt that it is
significant..... and it is a mountain bike anyway, with fatty tires, and MTB gear ratios. Off-road is when a host of
issues crop up that would make anyone indeed declare that I have truly made a "Bike That's Hard to Ride".
 It is hard to negotiate through trees, as the first thing I have to
worry about is getting my pedals around a tree on tight turns. This changes the track that one would normally take. Visibility from front wheel to 5-8 feet forward is horrible. So, you have to pick
your line, and then hope that you are maintaining it as you cannot see your immediate trail surface due to legs, handlebar and stem and that proboscis sticking out front blocking the view ahead. In
rough terrain it performs poorly, such as crossing small roots and rocks or dips. Although it is the original full suspension, the legs are no longer used to soak up the big hits like a traditional ride.
Everything the wheels hit, the bike hits with full force as I am neither able to absorb impact with my legs nor am I able to
unweight the front or rear wheel to assist over an obstruction. No popping a wheely with this machine. So I am
relearning what I can and cannot ride with this bike. And you can bet.... there is a lot that I cannot ride.... So a lot
more dismounting and remounting. Climbing is pretty poor as I cannot stand up and use some of my body weight to
assist through the power stroke. So all my climbing will be entirely with leg strength, so there is some room for
improvement there. The new route of the chain greatly impacted the pogoing of the rear shock, which the original
design of the DBR V8 had very little pogoing, so I will be running the Sid shock with pretty high pressures. Downhill
, is fun, but there is no way I will ever come close to what I could do on a regular bike. I fall a lot too.... When I fail
at a technical section, I usually do not have time to get a leg down out of the pedals before it is too late so I do a lot
of flops to the side like the old Laugh-In sequence. And once down, it is a challenge just getting out of the cockpit.
So the short of it is, this bike does almost everything worse..... The only upside, is that it is comfortable. I am not
hunched over, and that is what was doing in my back and neck. My back is supported on an ergonomically designed seat. Very Comfortable! My neck is straight up and down, no flexing of the neck. The hands grip the
handle bar with only a light touch. No pressure on the palms. If the goal of this design adventure was purely to make
a comfortable bike, mission accomplished. But I still yearn for the trails, thus I am willing to suffer the disadvantages
that this bike presents so that I can once again be out on the trails. I wish I could go fast again, but I can't. So most
of my riding will be recreation riding. Riding with the wife on this bike makes us closer to being equal on the trails.
Stuff she has always been afraid to ride, I am similarly afraid do to my bikes limitations. I guess what I have done is forced myself to a level of about an intermediate level recreation rider.
During the 3 month construction process, I did buy a used Vision Recumbent for road riding. Pretty nice handling
machine and I look forward to maybe entering some short tours and such. As far as what I can do with my "Bike
That's Hard To Ride", well.... I have entered myself into the Ouachita Challenge Tour. I am hoping to be able to
make it to the Sims cut-of or maybe all the way to the Fiddler Creek and then bail. I do not think I will have the
skills nor endurance to challenge Blowout Mountain or Big Brushy. Will be fun be able to ride in the Ouachita Challenge for the first time.... And on a "Bike That's Hard To Ride" at that.
Update! May 15, 2008
Prior to the Ouachita Challenge, I eliminated the rear shock. Rigid rear end now, and the bike handles much better.
No more pogoing allows me to provide power when needed and this seems to have a dramatic effect being able to
ride more technical sections. Less falling now and the ride is still pretty comfy even without the rear suspension. I
rode both days of the Ouachita Challenge, completing about have of the route each day, and did not fall a single
time. Still may be some room for improvement to the bike, and I know I am getting stronger, making each ride more successful as far as being able to climb steeper hills and ride more technical terrain.
Mike Kelsey
|
